Wind: Light west to NW then NE about 6-8 knots
Swell: small northerly
Current: at Middle Groyne, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: Soren and Emil (first time), jimbo, gemini, jaro, stormin, bigkev, redwood, scater, indiedog, sunshiner
The earliest arrivees waited on the beach together until there was just enought light to see how wet we were going to get at launch time. Jimbo looked after first timers Father/Son duo Soren and Emil and I was happy to see that all three got out safely without serious problems. Jaro, first to launch, almost took a big bath, getting slightly airborne just in from of me as I waited my turn in the channel. I was first away from Middle Groyne and headed for Jew Shoal into a choppy sloppy sea, even though the wind was still quite light.
As I headed out I trolled my usual HLP and was heartened by the sight of dozens of terns overtaking me and flying very low to the water. This looked promising. Unfortunately this apparent good sign was not accurate, at least for where we were.
The waters at Jew Shoal were still churning as a result of strong winds earlier in the night and there was even some swell. Accordingly drift fishing out there was less comfortable than usual. Sea sickness overtook several yakkers who are not normally afflicted, thus curtailing their trips. Those who stuck it out didn't reap any significant reward although young Emil (aged 15 I think and thus the youngest Noosa Yakker) scored a small keeper snapper.
Jaro had picked up a small throw back snapper on bait and while drift fishing near him I spotted, in quick succession, two Spaniards leap in beautiful arcs about 100m away. Nothing we did could tempt them to take our offerings, however and that was the last surface action I saw all morning.
Bigkev, on the way back to MG, encountered a bustup of very small mac tuna near Granite Bay and promptly boated three of them.
I understand that Soren and Emil met the sand monster and that gemini has some footage to prove it. The most spectacular beach return as far as I know was stormin's. While gemini, bigkev and I stood watching on the beach without cameras at the ready, stormin timed his run to coincide with the arrival of a nice little wave. We all thought he was a goner for sure but he cleverly braced on the wave and stayed on it, surfing it to the west, into the concentration of swimmers who hurriedly made way for his revo as it carved up the wave.
So, very little to show for our efforts today, except for bigger leg and arm muscles. I could not find any bait concentrations around Jew Shoal and there were only one or two scattered blips of bait in the bay. This is a huge change from the previous time I'd fished here, on 09Dec, when bait schools were evident all over.
Congratulations on your first outing with us Soren and Emil. May there be many more.
Kev
Track map and video added by Gemini.
Distance 11.8 km
Max Speed 6.2 km/hour
Avg Speed 3.0 km/hour
A couple of minor comments additions to Sunshiner's report:
ReplyDeleteFirstly to Young Emil, he took on a breaking wave during the launch and managed to punch through it and got out with a yak partly full of water. A great effort for your first go at offshore yak fishing in fairly uncomfortable conditions, even for experienced Yakkers.
Kev reports nil current at Middle Groyne, which there may have been, but the current at Jew Shoal was the strongest I have ever encountered. With only minor wind assistance from the NNW, I was recording 2.5 to 3.5 kph from NW to SE ... phenomenal! Must be something to do with maximum springs high tide of 2.2m.
For the record, I landed a good sized maori cod but still under size and was released, then a keeper sweetlip, a tiny flathead which was also released, had a big strike on a prawn bait that didn't hook up, and finally a mac tuna on a cast silver slug through a bust up only 1 km out from MG. A pleasant outing really, albeit in sloppy conditions.
Jimbo